31st Oct 2017 October Blog: Commute for a cheaper home – or not?

A recent article in the Daily Telegraph (30 Oct 2017: ‘The commuter towns 60 minutes from central London where you can save up to £480,000 on a house’) on the face of it argues in favour of the financial merit of moving out of London at the expense of a longer commute: you generally get more bang for your buck the further out of central London you go (though not if you move to Beaconsfield apparently). The price of cheaper, equivalent property even in combination with increased travel costs can, mostly, be financially beneficial. But are these monetary considerations all that matter?

Our experiences in Pimlico would say not. The reason most people want to live in Pimlico – which is of course very central London – is time. Or rather to save time.

Despite the draw of a larger pad it is that commute that is the issue with confirmed Pimlico dwellers. And it’s the TIME that commute takes: those wasted hours standing in a carriage corridor, running for the last train after a night on the town, never seeing the wife and kids until the weekend – and that is before we discuss the ‘merits’ of the unreliable, overcrowded train service and its and ever-increasing fares. Pimlico residents have decided that they don’t want to give their journey home a second thought and instead experience the vibrancy of an exciting and bustling city. Not such a bad life choice.

Whilst we often read articles like this, we’re confident that Pimlico holds its own as a residential community (because a community is what it is) right in the heart of the capital and will continue to appeal to home-owners and investors alike particularly because it is so well positioned and, let’s face it, not that expensive.